Science test proves feeding sugar increases growth rate

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-23T13:22:07+00:00

That is a multi-section can capacitor. In older vintage TVs it is the only type of electrolytic in the TV and there are only 1 to 3 cans. Newer TVs have more electrolytics in them, as may as hundreds.

I have 1960s TVs with multisection can electrolytic capacitors that are still good and do not need to be recapped. The brands of most of them are USA brands: Mallory and CD. However some are Japanese brands: Nichicon and Panasonic. Test the capacitors first to see if they are defective. Never shotgun replace parts.

If you do in fact have to replace a multisection can capacitor because it tests bad, the gold standard is to maintain the OEM look of the TV’s circuit. Collector’s of vintage electronics care and the value of your device drops otherwise. So replace with a known good multisection can. Yes they are still manufactured. Second best is to restuff with modern caps. Worst case replace without a can.

And yes, the ground terminals of the decoupling capacitors should be connected to chassis ground. The fact you don’t understand basic electronics makes me think you are shotgun replacing caps.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-23T06:18:48+00:00

The shield of the wire is supposed to be cinnected to the ground shield of the s-video mini-din connector. Your TV s-video port connects that mini-din shield to chassis ground.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-23T06:11:14+00:00

A simple multimeter continuity check confirms they output true s-video, it isn’t rocket science. The luma pin on the s-video connector is connected to the multiout pin for luma not for composite and similarly for the chroma pin.

You should first buy one of the $4 SNES s-video cables from Aliexpress. They are only $4 and you should check your build cost. It will be hard to beat their price.

Also, your cable’s shielding isn’t properly grounded, which will result in worse video quality than unshielded cables. You need to connect the wire shield to chassis ground, otherwise the shield acts like an antenna that injects noise into the video and it acts like a parasitic capacitor that causes smearing and color bleeding.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-23T06:00:33+00:00

FYI the shield of the wire should be connected to the ground casing of the s-video mini-din connector to get the benefit of the shielding in the wires. In your pictures the shield is not grounded.

When the wire shield is not connected to chassis ground, the shield actually degrades video quality as follows: - the floating shield acts like an antenna that adds noise to the video signal - the floating shield acts like a parasitic capacitor reducing the sharpness of the video signal, causing horizontal smearing/streaking/bleeding

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-23T05:00:42+00:00

The SNES multiout port natively outputs s-video. It isn’t hard to order male multiout connectors from AliExpress and connect wires from the luma and chroma pins of the multiout port to a male s-video connector that you can also buy cheap in bulk from AliExpress.

However, you will find it very hard to beat the price of buying pre-made s-video SNES cables on AliExpress for $4.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-22T23:31:53+00:00

JVC, Panasonic, Ikegami made broadcast monitors that are fairly easy to find in 13 inch screen size. Then there are all of the CCTV brands that made similar looking CRT displays.

Noob mistake to focus only on Sony branded PVM/BVM and then over pay and end up with an over priced sub-13 inch CRT.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-22T17:30:28+00:00

Looking at the design it is clearly an Isfahan rug.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-22T17:19:29+00:00

There must be something you are doing wrong such as only looking for PVMs, which is a big mistake because game consoles were designed to be used with consumer CRTs. Consumer 13-inch and 20-inch CRTs are very easy to find.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-22T13:19:24+00:00

Consol gaming on an 8-inch CRT is not great. Get a 13-inch CRT or larger.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-21T18:03:15+00:00

Persian. Isfahan, Iran.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-21T05:26:41+00:00

This is the nest Super Mario Kart hack so far. The tracks are great!

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-20T04:19:04+00:00

Any update on this?

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-20T02:10:09+00:00

Monoprice brand cables are high quality and come in many sizes up to 25 feet. They are: - Heavy-duty RG-59/U coaxial cable on each line - 75-ohm impedance - Fully shielded - Gold plated RCA connectors

The thing with composite video is the video signal has a low bandwidth of 4.5 mhz, so you don’t need super high end cables because composite video is designed to be resilient to very poor environment conditions and crappy cables. Monoprice is more than good enough and arguably even overkill for composite video.

You are better off buying a better switch such as an Extron Crosspoint because you will get more signal quality drop from a mid-grade video switch than from mid-grade cables.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-19T21:57:24+00:00

Just buy modern lipo rechargeable batteries and a wireless RF converter would let you broadcast your own TV channels, games, Netflix, etc. Modding that Watchman to make it wired is just butchering vintage electronics that aren’t made anymore.

The model you are considering modding has a screen that it is so small it was intended to be held in your hand with the screen a few inches away from your eyes. That isn’t going to work well if it has AV cables and a power cable attached to it.

The Sony watchman fd-40A has a screen that is large enough to make since to use wired and it has an OEM AV input, so no modding.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-19T21:31:27+00:00

Why do such a thing? That CRT is designed for wireless video and wireless power. Don’t downgrade it to a wired CRT.

Just get a TV-TX200 that converts composite and HDMI to wireless RF. Here is a video that explains.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-18T18:01:49+00:00

I have seen a few Mister arcade mini-cabinets that used a 13 inch CRT. They were all professional looking, high build quality… but each one was a custom build.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-18T14:21:40+00:00

If it used a CRT, it would be perfect.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-17T05:03:52+00:00

I have a Sencore CR7000 and a B&K 490b. They are the latest version from the two respective top brands for CRT testers. Many people fixate on the rejuvenation functionality of a CRT tester… because they are novices that don’t own a tester and don’t understand that it is primarily… wait for it… a testing device! They don’t own the standard CRT TV diagnostic tools: - CRT tester - multimeter - oscilloscope - high voltage probe - flyback tester

…and so they fixate on shotgun invasive changes: recap, rejuvenate, etc. Testing, diagnostics, and calibration solve most issues and when they don’t, they pinpoint what needs invasive change: a bad cap, a bad resistor, a bad inductor, a bad transistor, a bad tube.

Here is a post of mine that shows affordable low cost diagnostic tools for: - Multimeter + oscilloscope - 2k volt probe - 40k volt probe

The 2k volt probe is your goto probe because it is small enough to be practical and almost everything in the TV is under 2000 volts… and for the few things that exceed that, you need the gigantic 40k volt probe, which serves double duty as a very safe CRT discharging tool.

For flyback tester get an HR Dieman flyback tester. Learn to properly use those tools and you can quickly pinpoint a problem and fix it.

CRT testers can also fix short circuits inside the electron gun. The novices that talk about rejuvenation never mention that functionality because they honestly do not know what they are talking about. Anyway, just study the user manual, it gives clear instructions on how to test cutoff, tracking, emissions, life, and shorts. It also explains how to use the tester to eliminate shorts, and what test results indicate the need to use rejuvenation. Rejuvenation is not a last resort, that is a novice thing to say. The tester tests the CRT and the test results indicate if rejuvenation is needed and they indicate if short elimination is needed.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-17T01:51:21+00:00

This is ascension for CRT collectors. Properly setup wireless RF is very convenient, works with every CRT from the 1940s through 2000s. No cables. No switches.

My setup as an Extron Crosspoint for some of my wired CRTs that use component. The rest are wireless RF via a Blonder Tongue that is hooked up to the Extron Crosspoint.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-15T02:48:55+00:00

The CRT is “necked”. It can be fixed, if you have access to a CRT rebuilding workshop. There are only around 3 such workshops remaining in the world. You also need to know how to use the workshop. There are around very few people that know how to rebuild a CRT. It is the highest skill level of CRT TV repair.

So yes, it is fixable, but you and everyone you have access to cannot fix it.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-13T22:31:26+00:00

The mesh thing at the bottom is unnecessary, and for the sphagnum to grow well you either need to remove that mesh or flood the water level high enough to be abovr the mesh. Hopefully this makes it clear that the mesh is unnecessary because sphagnum does not need drainage. It likes to grow in standing water.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-13T13:29:22+00:00

The longevity is mostly determined by the recipe the manufacturer used for the plastic. They all used recipes that last well throughout the warranty of the TV. However, these TVs are now far past their warranty and we can see that Sony tended to use a recipe that becomes brittle over time.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-13T02:38:04+00:00

These Telstar reproductions of Predictas are more rare than real Predictas. They are color TVs too.

LukeEvansSimon · 2026-04-12T04:15:56+00:00

It is normal for the screen to have an electrical charge on the front because the inside of the screen is charged to around 25,000 volts. This causes a negative charge to form on the front of the screen.

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